$5.40 for a gallon!

Mad a question. Does the US have price gouging laws?
In Australia we have a new petrol price commissioner and if companies either a) delibratly lock there pumps when they have petrol because its the cheepest day of the week or b) diverge from the singapor benchmark price by to much they can be fined for price fixing and price gouging as far as i know

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Supply and demand is a bitch sometimes. Though my pay is relatively modest, I do have the privilege of commuting in a company vehicle without having to cover the cost of the gas. But rising fuel prices are an increase in the cost of business that makes it less likely that I will get a raise anytime soon.

Thankfully my motorcycle gets pretty decent mileage (30's to 40's). My car does not (1967 Camaro with a 406 CI smallblock).

The ripple effect in our economy is going to be substantial. This is a great time to be a Honda dealer. Chevrolet, not so much.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

There are federal and state taxes on fuel (California's is one of the highest), but they are very modest when compared to most of the rest of the world.

The whining comes from the corner we have painted ourselves into. With gasoline so low for so long, many many people have large vehicles that get poor MPG. Because it has been economical (up until now) many people have very long commutes in vehicles that get poor MPG. In most cities the public transportation infrastructure is inadequate to nonexistent. And in rural areas, you are completely on your own.

 

Really

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

? What kinda bike ya got?

 

james i have to say HOW THE HELL DO YOU GET SUCH CHEEP PETROL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

last time i filled up (on tuesday) it cost me $1.36.9 a L which is the cheepest its been for WEEKS

I DID manage to fill up at $1.07 a few weeks ago because everything was in my favor (i had a 10 cent docert and another 4 cents because i had to buy a couple of things in the store and the price was down to $1.21 i think thats right) but its been between a $1.36 and at LEAST $1.45 constantly in adelaide

 

I have a wife, four kids, a dog, two cats, and a nanny. There's no car that gets better gas milage that I could fit everyone in! Especially with the laws we have requiring every child be strapped into a baby seat. (When I was a kid, parents would just pile 17 kids into the back seat and not worry about seatbelts, now you'd get arrested for that).

I did trade in my wife's mini-van for a much smaller car that I use for work that gets 25-30 mpg v/s the 14 in the Suburban. But if the whole family is going somewhere, we need the Suburban. Plus, the four wheel drive is great in the winter.

 

A Suzuki Bandit 1200.

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

They get better milage if you stay under 110 mph.

 

You're my Idol! No, I mean I need a nanny and a suburban.

 

Yes. It probably gets in the high forties at a steady cruise. But at these prices, that still costs a surprising amount.

 

you luckkkkyyyyyy....Its one on my wish list

 

Because we don't compare the price we're paying with the price you're paying. We compare it to the 99 cents a gallon we were paying in the nineties! And, even if we just go back to the time just before hurricane Katrina, the price was about $2 per gallon (which we thought was too high). Now we're flirting with $4 per gallon.

I talk to a lot of truckers, independents, guys who own their own trucks. They've seen their price for fuel go from about $500 a tank to $1000. They try to pass that cost on, but a lot of them are going out of business. And to the extent the extra costs do get passed on, they cascade throughout our economy making everything more expensive.

 

That's the problem, not how many in your household, but why is life in American inseparable from driving a car around? Most people don't even question this, but that's not the way it is in other countries. Cars let us build things far apart, and that requires us to buy more cars forever after.

That's why Americans care so much about the price of gas. Driving a car has become a way of life, it's how we get to work, how we shop, how we travel even long distances.

 

I'm with draqon, I bike! ... Though i take the bus in winter because were I live when it get snowy and cold, its get FUCKING SNOWY AND COLD! Maybe I'll try icebiking but first I need a better bike before I can do that.

The suburban design is the doomed of the USA, with the coming peak and the end of cheap fuel suberbia will in real trouble.

 

Gas in CA is outrageous. Except its kind of cheap here in LA. Compared to the northern cites. Like Fresno or San Fransisco

 

I actually agree with you here. I hate the way we build towns/cities these days. In the town I grew up in you could walk anywhere. It was built on a grid, so you never had to use the busy streets. Just go over one block to the street parallel to the busy one. Also, there were sidewalks on both sides of every street. And the neighborhoods were right next to each other, nothing in town was really too far to walk to or at least ride your bike.

The town I live in now has very few sidewalks. Instead of being on a grid, the roads meander all over the damned place to create a bunch of cul de sacs. This creates really busy main roads that, nevertheless, have no sidewalks! And all the neighboorhoods are scattered so far apart that, even if it was safe to walk, it's just too damned far! Even to get to the corner store which is only a few miles away, the only route is a four lane highway! Riding your bike or walking on that road is suicidal.

As a child, I used to ride my bike to school, to the library, to the store, all over town. My kids can't ride their bikes anywhere. They can ride around the cul de sac just for the fun of it, but their bikes are absolutely useless as a form of transportation.

 

Now imagine, that gas hits $10 a gallon or worse there are shortages, what will you do?

 

I'll pay the $10 a gallon. I need to get to work.

If society goes to shit, we have a go to hell plan to go down to my wife's grandfather's farm. It's in the middle of nowhere, and it's self sufficient.

 

That would really suck. I would plan my trips carefully. Very,very carefully.